Anyone had luck with this? I've tried my own versions in the past, got some decent trail cam pictures but never saw anything on stand come check it out.. has anyone had success either on the cameras, on stand, or both? Referring to the Hodag Licking Stick that is.
Thanks
Take my comments with a grain of salt, I work for Hodag full time. However, I have personally seen great success with them, and being part of the company I have also gotten to see many success stories. I truly believe this tool can help you inventory, pattern and hunt deer. That being said, it is not a "silver bullet." It will not draw deer from miles away and put them right in front of your tree stand during daylight. However, if you do have deer in a particular area, putting this in front of your trail camera is a great way of putting deer in one specific spot for you to get good trail camera pictures and video of them. Rather than blurry photos of deer walking by. Here is a short video of one licking stick set up I put up. Here you can see that within 12 hours of setting up this licking stick I had deer using it. This is only a weeks worth of trail camera intel, and I haven't been back since. So I cannot wait to see the deer that have been on it for the last several months. And to the people that think for some reason mature deer do not use licking sticks for communication, head over to the Hodag social media pages and you will see a whole slew of 4 year old + deer using them. Just my 2 cents. Is it a product that promises attracting deer from miles away and bringing them in daylight for you to kill? No. Is it a tool that can help you inventory, pattern, and hunt? Absolutely.
Checked the licking stick for the first time the other night and am very pleased.. i knew the set up worked as far as the branch in the open - deer being drawn.. but this is very nice in the fact you don't have to worry about your set up being knocked over.. had mine out 3 weeks and it's in great shape.. well worth the money. Have 5 3.5 YO's hitting it every other day and a hand full of small bucks and does.. can't wait for sits over this. Good luck everyone
edit: spelling
I'm not really into this kind of thing myself. However you could just find a real licking branch and move it to a new area. I know a guy who does that. Cut it off and zip tie it where you want it. He also scoops out and moves dirt from scrapes for what its worth. Not something I ever did, just heard about it.
Looks like i hurt people feelings again. The reference to Dan Infault, people don't like his attitude on hunting, grow up. He's refreshing to listen to. He uses common sense and time in the woods. it's pretty simple.
no licking branches, buck bombs or rub line slime....unreal the crap people use thinking they will buy success.
FD,
Sorry if I came off sounding condescending, that was not my intent. My intent was to offer that, in most cases, you do not need to purchase devices such as this to get your desired results. With a little thought and some planning you can accomplish or goal with a hand saw and a little time.
For example. My best scrape\licking branch setup is nothing more than an old deadfall I setup in the crotch of a live tree. I extended the deadfall over a well use trail. I then bent a green maple sapling under the deadfall as the licking branch. I kicked a little ground open to expose some fresh soil and urinated in it myself. That scrape has been active for 3 years now. I checked it a couple weeks ago and the maple branch is shot. I bent another green maple under it and will freshen it up in a few weeks. If you are looking for a rubbing post, cut a 3" to 4" inch green maple or willow and dig a hole a few feet deep. A post hole digger works great for this. Use some scent if you'd like. If your lucky, the cutting will sprout and stay alive for years of use. If not, just dig it out and put a new one down in a year or 3.
If you feel the Hodag fits your needs or will improve your hunting experience go for it. Please don't leave the metal base in the woods when you are finished.
Good Luck.
I use them as a tool to get inventory of the deer in my area. The Hodag gets deer to communicate at a given spot on my food plots each time they come to visit and I just can’t say that my cameras could ever get these results without something to put the deer on a certain spot.
Without a doubt I know that my confidence level goes up when I have good inventory on my plots and a huge part of that comes from the use of the Hodag.
Yes it’s legit and yes it works. It is a very durable/versatile base. Easy to set up. The premise behind it is to set the base up in a food plot/clearing, and near a spot where you can out a camera on it. Deer will come often come right to this spot to scent it up, mark territory, check out what other deer have been there etc. The scent that comes with it is also very effective. Overall its a very productive scouting tool.
I guess i could have worded my original post differently, but i was more-so wondering on the set up rather than the "brand name". I have set up my own style of this before, and just thought the base would give it more of a permanent / durable stance with me going a month or so in between checking the camera / site.
I appreciate any feedback, should have seen your stance coming before asking. The way you post you think you'd put a mix of Dan Infalt / Fred Bear to shame.
Like the Primos Tree coy. LOL. Unreal that people would even think of buying that.
You can create your own licking branch/mock scrape and stuff....
I suppose it's like baiters, they can't really determine where to hunt so bring the deer to you with throwing down apples and corn. I get it. :Licking branch for pictures, bait pile for hunting. Now we got it all figured out!
Had to look that up. It's sort of amusing, gave me a chuckle. I see bases being left in the woods to be forgotten.
To answer your question, yes they work. You can start your own rub, scrape or licking branch. I don't mess with rub trees to much, more work to setup. I'll position a branch at a good angle from my stand, kick the dirt open under it and relieve myself in the fresh soil. Don't always catch the buck in it but they do find it pretty quick.
